I have just returned from my first African hunting safari to celebrate reaching my half-century earlier this year. It has been a long-held dream,and it exceeded all of my expectations. Following advice from a good friend, I booked a management hunt with Kowas Adventure Safaris. This proved to be a great choice, as I enjoyed the holiday of a lifetime. The PH, Matthues, worked hard to ensure that I achieved my target of 10 animals, including Springbok, Impala, Blue Wildebeest, Red Hartebeast, Oryx and Warthog. My wife also treated me two trophies; an Oryx bull [38 inches] and a Warthog. I also managed to fit in a session flighting sand grouse which I would recommend. The Strauss family are great hosts, and you are treated as a friend from the moment you arrive. I was not sure how my wife would cope with me hunting for 6 consecutive days, but she came on every hunt and is very keen to get arrange our next trip with Kowas. I couldn't have hoped for a better result than that, thanks to Danie and Ansie, their family and all their team for an amazing time in Namibia.
The trophy Oryx; shot at last light after a long stalk. The rifle was a Winchester 300. winmag provided by Kowas; I think I might have to get one!
Thanks for your information. What rifle did you use? Ammunition? How was the food? Lodging? I think it will help us as we consider our next hunts. Thanks for your help.
The ammunition was Remington 150gn corelokt, which proved very effective. I had planned to take my 30-06, but last minute problems with the airline forced a change of plan. We stayed in a detached lodge, with its own shower and WC, and overlooked a waterhole which was visited by impala, waterbuck and warthogs. We hunted every morning and evening, and had a full breakfast before setting off at first light, a cooked lunch on our return at midday, and an evening meal; all delicious and predominantly game shot by clients. You will definitely not be hungry; I am now on a strict diet!
I'd be very interested to hear your detailed thoughts on how the corelokt ammo performed. I'm new to the game also and have been reading on this site about "premium" bullets such as the A-frame, Nosler partition, TSX/TTSX but have yet to see the corelokt mentioned.
Sounds like you had a great time. I have hunted with Kowas twice, the latest being last October. They are a first class operation. Looking forward to doing a cull hunt with them in the next year or two. Looking forward to a full report of your trip.
CoreLokts have a bad reputation because they are cheap. If you have a rifle that likes them, then they work just fine on small to middle size plains game. You will never find a hand loader that shoots them. I use very expensive factory ammo on my big bore guns for the most part. On my 44 year old M70 3006, I shoot corelokts, but again I mostly use it on deer and don't take it to Africa. They work and they are $20 a box. If I were in Africa using the outfitters rifles and all he had was corelokt ammo, I would not hesitate to use them on the appropriate animals.
I would not be a bit surprised to find many old school plains game PH's would recommend 200 grain CoreLoks in a 30-06. Unless you could get 220 grain ones I had a PH recommend just that for small predators and night critters and zebra was on the menu as well. He wanted an effective load for zebra plus a slow moving bullet that did not blow apart the little critters.
Really nice warthog for any hunt much less a cull hunt. I'm glad you and your wife had a great experience. Congrats.